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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-14-07 FPAC Minutes ~ ~HILLS MINUTES FINANCIAL PLANNING & ANALYSIS COMMITTEE TUESDAY, August 14, 2007 6:00 P.M. Upstairs Conference Room, Arden Hills City Hall I. CALL MEETING TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL The meeting was called to order by committee chair, Scott Bronson at 6:04pm MEMBERS PRESENT: Maurice Gieske, Scott Bronson, AI Hilgers, Jeff Johnson. Jim Ostlund, David Grant, Council Liaison OTHERS PRESENT: Sue Iverson, Finance Director; Joe Rueb, Accounting Analyst II. APROVAL OF AGENDA Current status of the investment policy? Passed by Council. Gieske requested a copy of the final and approved investment policy. Motioned: Jeff Johnson Seconded: Maurice Gieske III. APPROVAL OF July 10, 2007 MINUTES Motioned: Jeff Johnson Seconded: Maurice Gieske IV. CITY COUNCIL UPDATE - Council member Grant At this time there are plans for a Walgreens to be built on the South West corner of Arden Plaza. Some residents do not want a Walgreens; an alternative for the Walgreens is an ALDI store. The closest ALDI to Arden Hiils is currently located off of Rice Street in lillie Canada. Council does not have any authority to prevent any specific building unless there are problems with set backs, transportation or other city related concerns. This new structure will block the ACE hardware store building. Ace's building and property is privately owed. Another concern is that the local pharmacy leases it building and may be affected by a Walgreens. There is a sliver of land located off of New Brighton Road of which 55 feet of that land is located in Arden Hills and that rest of the land is located in New Brighton. The owner of this property has requested th.at Arden Hills turns the property over to New Brighton. This topic has been tabled with the council. TCMP: There is a concern that part of the property is going to be too dense in population. It is projected to contain 1700 household units on 30 acres of land. Council Member Grant feels as though there are not enough parks and trails throughout this property. From 2005 -2007 the total buildable acreage has decrease by approximately 100 acres, although the density has stayed the City of Arden Hills 1245 West Highway 96 . Arden Hills Minnesota 55112 Phone 651.634.5120' Fax 651.634.5137 www.ci.arden-hills.mn.us ~ ~HILLS same. Council Members Grant and Hoden plan to meet with the developers about these concerns. Bronson inquired about a date for approval of the site plan. A date has not been set at this time. The developer is still working on finishing drilling and waiting for results. The City is concerned with the amount of money and staff time being spent on TCMP. Council has concerns that they have not been told the financial capacity of TCMP. They are also concerned that there are not enough single family homes. 250 homes were originally projected, Council wanted 350, developer countered with 306. Council has approved funding for a Bocce Golf course located across from Lindey park. The County, MN DOT and the City met on August 13th to discuss Highway 10/96. They met to discuss grade, noise set backs, over and under passes, and keeping Scherer Bros. in their current location as the City is not interested in buying them out. Council approved an additional 16 units to be developed on Katie lane. Council Member Grant asked the FPAC group for an approximate developer return with a total build out in 10-15 years. FPAC group approximated a 12-15% developer return. Council also approved the development of some property located off of Gateway Blvd in the corner of 694 and 35W. The plan calls for 495,000 square feet within 3 buildings. The smallest building will contain 30,000 square feet. Only two of the three buildings will be built at first with the third building to be built in the future. The total build out value of this property is $75-$85 million. There are concerns about the accessibility for all the traffic projected for this development. Only a few years of TIF are available for this project. This TIF district has approximately $350,000 for roads. This development will hold the first structured parking in the city. V. FINANCIAL POLICY DISCUSSION Sue went through the Financial Policies Design and Implementation presentation from the GFOA. We need to promote long thinking and strategic planning. Promote flexibility and checks & balances. Compare to peer groups and historical information. Policy vs. Procedure: Policies must differentiate between board-level decisions and staff-level procedures that support a policy. A request was placed for information pertaining to the Reserve, Investment, and Financial policies. VI. FUND BALANCE POLICY DISCUSSION Discussion included Reserve vs. Unreserved, Designated vs. Undesignated, and major reason for adopting specific parts. We have a good fund balance. We need to set up different designations. Need to avoid interest expenses. Issuing debt is not always bad as long as it is limited to a three month period. At year-end local governments should plan on a fund balance based on three to five months of expenditures. Where do we want to gather information from to set benchmarks? Johnson requested a rating agency report. Cities have policies regarding year end excess revenue. No need to be worried about reserved fund balances at year end. Only prepaid expenses have reserves; all else are unreserved. Bronson was wondering if there are any policies on reserved funds or on budgets. General fund is currently running at 53% unreserved. We do not receive much state aid. Need to use last year as an example. look at June and November fund balances for examples. Modified accrual requires one day out of the year to be on the accrual basis. City of Arden Hills ~ ~HILLS B. What factors do we want to consider A. Reasons and Objectives for Policy C. What information should we gather Do we need a reserve plan or a contingency plan? Look at potential tax loss if a company like Boston Scientific left Arden Hills. What are the financial implications? What would be the cash flow needs, what is left over? Is the city sitting on any property? At this time only the old city hall; no other major parcels ofland. Requests for: CIP, equipment replacement plan, cash flow by month, example policies, OSA reports, project expected expenditures, resource plan, long range financial plan, reserve balance policies vs. other cities (same size and after TCAAP is built out). Use the PCI rating to forecast when and what roads need to be replaced. Need CIP for equipment replacement fund. What are the projections for the roads? Roads have a 30 year projected life span. The City is doing more seal coating and crack filling to maintain roads longer. VII. NEXT MEETING AGENDA - September 11, 2007 A. Continue Fund Balance Policy Discussion VIII. ADJOURN Motioned: AI Hilgers Seconded: Jeff Johnson ~~ ~-i:i:M~ Scott Bronson, Chair Susan K. Iverson, Finance Director City of Arden Hills